Machine for sewing buttons to fabrics



(Mode1.)

A. BORGHARDT.

MACHINE FOR SEWING BUTTONS T0 FABRICS. No. 256,278. Patented Apr. 11,1882

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UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

ALBERT nononanonor WEEHAWKEN, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR SEWING BUTTONS TO FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,278, dated April 11, 1852.

Application filed December 2, 1881.

' sewing-machines in which the cloth-plate is laterally reciprocated and my invention consists of a button-holder in which the button is held by its edge, and by which it is pressed directly upon the surface of the fabric to which it is to be sewed, whereby the button itself is I The made the presser-foot of the machine. button-holder is carried by suitable mechanism, which may be connected with the movable cloth-plate upon which the fabric rests. By means of such mechanism the button-holder is elevated to receive a button, and depressed to press the button against the fabric.

The accompanyingdrawings, illustrating my button-holder and the mechanism with which it is immediately connected, which may be affixed to or connected with the bed of the sewing-machine, are as follows:

Figure l is a side elevation, showing the buttoirholder depressed in the position which it occupies when pressing the button down upon the fabric to which the button is to be sewed, and also exhibiting in dotted lines the elevated position which the button holder is made'to assume for convenience in inserting the button in it. Fig. 2 is a top view. Fig. 3 is a trans verse section through the broken line a: w on Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a view of the under side of the plate to which the buttoirholder is attached, showing the button and a portion of the under side of the button-holder, and also showing the spring-jaw for clamping the button in its seat, a portion of the plate being represented as broken out for the purpose of more clearly exhibiting the spring-jaw.

The drawings represent a plate, A, which is attached to that part of the sewing-machine to which areciprocating motion is given in a plane perpendicular to the path of the needle.

The button-holder B is carried in the end of the forked hinged plate (l, to which it is attached by the screws 0. The holes in the ends of the forked plate 0 are somewhat larger (Model) than the shanks of the screws C,in order to give the button-holder a slight range ofoscillation upon a horizontal axis, and thus enable -the action of which the hinged plateO is pressed downward against the outward thrust of the expandingspiralspring A The hinged plate 0 is provided with two rearwardly-prnjecting arms, the ends of which arelooselyinserted respectively in the standards A, affixed to the plate A. The central portion of the plate A is slotted to admit the button-holder and to allow the under part of the button to be projected completely through the plate A.

The button D is held in the button holder by means of the curved rail B and the springjaw B against which the edge of the button bears, and by which slightly more than onehalf the periphery of the button is embraced. When the button is to be inserted in the button-holder the hinged plate 0 is allowed to swing upward ihto the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and the button is then slid along the under side of the button-holder until it brings up against the curved rail B. The spring-jaw B yields outwardly as the button is pushed along the under snrfaceof the holder, and when the button is seated against the rail B is made to bear againstthe edge of the button by the spring B The oscillating plate 0 is then swung downward by means of the presser-cam A and the under surface of the button is thus made to bear directly upon the surface of the fabric to which the button is to be sewed, the button itself thus acting as the presser-foot of the machine. The position of the plate A fixes the button in proper position with relation to the needle, and by the reciprocating feed of the machine the stitches are formed alternately on either side of the bar D of the button, the thread being carried over the bar alternately in opposite directions as the stitches are successively made.

The button represented in the drawings is of that class in which there is a central eyelet provided with a transverse bar, and a lateral reciprocating motion of the bed upon which the fabric rests, or a lateral reciprocating motion of the needle-bar, if the bed be stationary, is all that is required to enable such buttons to be sewed on by the machine. If, however, it be desired to use buttons having four holes for the admission of the threads by which they are sewed on,the feed-motion of the bed upon which thefabric rests willof course be so modified as tobringthe four holes successively into alignment with the needle. As these feed-motions do not form a part of my present invention, and are common in button-hole machines, no special description of the mechanism by which they are efi'eoted is required.

It will of course be seen that my invention is applicable to all those classes of buttons which are sewed on by means of threads carried transversely through the body of the button, or through holes therein.

I claim asmy invention- 1. The button-holderB, provided with means i for holding a button byits edge, so that it may be lowered upon the fabric, in combination with means, substantially as described, for pressing the button directly upon the surface of the fabric to which it is to be sewed, as set 25 movable jaw bearingwith elastic pressure upon 0 the edge of the button and serving to hold the button in place,in combination with means for pressing the button directly upon the surface of the fabric to which it is to be sewed, substantially as described.

3. The slotted plate A, in combination with the hinged plate 0 and the button-holder B, adapted to carry a button,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ALBERT BORCHARDT.

Witnesses: V

M. L. ADAMS, Asa FARR. 

